Belly Touching and Bus Behavior

I am feeling better. Our presenting twin (the boy) is currently breech and we won't know for a while if he's going to stay that way or turn. I've decided not to get too worked up about hospital and doctor birth policies until we have a sense of which way he's facing, since a breech presenting twin will make the whole thing moot anyway.

The other day when I prepared to get on the bus the driver spontaneously decided to lower the bus all the way to the curb for me, the same way he might do for somebody in crutches or in need of a ramp. I didn't even know what was going on when the bus started lowering with a giant "beep, beep, beep" sound. You know you're big when the driver assumes you can't make that step up to the bus!

When I'm not collecting data I have a pretty ideal work commute involving either a 25-minute walk or a 5-minute bike ride on a bike path that runs directly behind my house and passes within a block of my office. The walk / bike ride is a little beyond me now, so I take the bus, which is also wonderfully convenient. The stops are only a block from my house and a block from my office. At certain times the bus can be a little crowded and the seats disappear. I have been paying attention to who gives up a seat for me (even when I don't feel like I need to sit). So far, it has almost universally been women who give up their seats. A couple of times, an African-American man has also given up his seat. So far, I have never had the experience of a white guy giving up his seat. In fact, I've never seen it happen for the elderly or the disabled, either. I've noticed seat-hoggers deliberately looking everywhere around the bus except right in front of them, where the 95-year old woman leaning on a cane is about to topple over. I wonder if this phenomenon is unique to the town in which I live.

Another interesting thing I've noticed is the habit some people have developed for touching my belly. It actually hasn't happened too often, and it has only happened with one complete stranger. She was drunk, so I forgave her. In other cases it's been coworkers or acquaintances who like to whip out the belly pat maneuver. It doesn't really bother me, but it takes me by surprise each time. One guy who always likes to pull the belly pat move is this professor in my department. He's never touched me before this, and now all of the sudden he pats the belly whenever he can catch me. I'm pretty sure he'd never dream of touching my non-pregnant belly! I've decided that it would be pretty cool to pat his own (ample) belly in return, but so far I haven't mustered the courage to do such a thing. Maybe after tenure.